1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for aiding in cutting circular pieces from sheet material, and more specifically, to a material cutter with a plurality of cutting wheels which are rotated to cut arcs approximating a circle from a sheet of material.
2. Description of Related Art
When performing home crafts such as making a quilt, it is often necessary to cut a circular piece from a sheet of fabric, paper or other material. Many devices making it easier to perform this task have been disclosed in the prior art. These include devices with one or more blades which are moved in a circular motion across the top of a sheet of material to cut a circular piece therefrom. However, none of the previously disclosed circular cutters provides a base which securely holds the material to be cut interiorly of the cutting blades during cutting; which does not leave imperfections in the cut circle of material; and which also biases the cutting blades in an unexposed, retracted position when the device is not in use.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,346, issued Jul. 22, 1969 to John M. Snyder, discloses a circular cutter for material such as carpets having a disk-shaped member with a pointed axle and a single blade protruding from its bottom surface. The Snyder device is operated by pushing the axle through the material to be cut and twisting the top member 360.degree. to move the blade in a full circle around the axle. This carpet cutter would leave blemishes if used on fabrics, and it does not possess retractable blades.
U.S Pat. No. 1,428,828, issued Jul. 25, 1922 to Maurice A. Butterfield, shows a circular material cutter with a top member which is twisted 180.degree. to move two cutting wheels in a circle across the material to be cut. The circular material cutter of Butterfield differs from the present invention in that the cutting wheels are not in a retracted position when the device is not in use, the material to be cut is not held securely beneath a disk-shaped base, and the device does not have a compact structure to make it safe and easy to store.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,467, issued Jun. 10, 1986 to Tibor Safar shows a device for cutting a circular piece from a sheet material having a beam with two blades mounted thereon which is attached to a base member via a spring and shaft assembly that serves to bias the blades to a retracted position when the device is not in use. The device of Safar differs from the present invention in various ways including that the base member holds the waste portion of the sheet material being cut, rather than holding the piece interior to the cut. Also, the device utilizes a vacuum holder to hold in place the circular piece being cut out.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,574 issued Nov. 23, 1971 to Gerald F. Yanke and Erica Road, shows a circular material cutter having a disk-shaped base member that holds the piece being cut and a rotating arm with a blade mounted on its radial end which is moved in a circle around the base to cut the piece from a sheet material. The device of Yanke and Road differs from the present invention in that the cutting blade is not biased toward a retracted position when the device is not in use.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,173,913 (Nicholson) and 4,426,781 (Kufrin) show devices for cutting circular pieces from a sheet material, each device being operated by moving a blade-carrying member through a complete circle across the material being cut. These devices differ from the present invention in that they must be turned through 360.degree., making it difficult to complete the cut in a single motion. Also, the devices do not securely hold the piece being cut beneath a disk-shaped base to avoid damaging the piece.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,230,400 (Cadirola), 2,066,381 (Albertson) and German document number 2,910,642 (Ihata et al.) show circular material cutters having rotating arms with cutting wheels mounted on the ends thereof which are moved in a circle around the base member to cut a circular piece from a sheet material. The above mentioned devices differ from the present invention in that the cutting wheels are not in a retracted position when the devices are not in use; the material to be cut is not held securely beneath a disk-shaped base; and the devices do not have a compact structure to make them safe and easy to store.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,645,390 (Pecha et al.) and 3,934,343 (Witecki) and German Patent No. 119286 (Weibel) are mentioned to show other examples of circular material cutters which differ greatly from the present invention.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a circular material cutter solving the aforementioned problems is desired.